How to Successfully Grow Pothos From Seeds?

Just like you, I had an intense desire to grow pothos from seeds. I searched numerous plant shops and online stores; however, I could not procure any pothos seeds. Instead, I was constantly recommended to get a pothos cutting.

But that’s not what I was looking for this time. I was merely curious about how to grow a pothos plant from seeds. Moreover, like everyone out there, I have never actually seen pothos seeds.

Technically speaking, it is very much possible to grow pothos from seeds. You can easily grow it like any other plant. Well, that is, if you happen to lay your hands on these rare seeds. Now, that’s the biggest challenge!

The best way to grow pothos plants from seeds is to soak the pothos seeds in a starter pot, using the ready-made potting soil, for 12 hours and plant the seeds when they germinate.

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Getting a full-grown exotic pothos is very tempting, no doubt. But is it worth the money?

Hence, like with many other exclusive houseplants, growing pothos from seeds can be considerably cheap. Also, you can produce a ton of plants to share. It definitely takes a lot of time, but it will be worth the wait.

Actually, I wanted to grow pothos from seeds not only for economic reasons but also for sentimental aspects.

Let’s talk about Seeds and Variegation

Variegation and Seeds

But what if you could start from scratch and grow pothos from seed? You can’t be sure you’d obtain the pothos you desired.

The basic, deep green jade pothos is the ancestor of the various species of pothos we encounter as houseplant lovers. Variegations are mutations from the solid green plant, resulting in flecked patterns on the leaves.

There’s no guarantee that seedlings from variegated plants will stay variegated. When purchasing seeds, keep in mind that just because the source plant was exotic-looking doesn’t mean the offspring will be!

Let’s imagine you were able to obtain golden pothos seeds. When you plant them, you might get a range of different plants.

They might be solid green, variegated, or a mix of the two. It’s even possible to generate an albino plant that will perish due to its inability to photosynthesize.

The more white on a variegated leaf, the less sunlight it can process! This is why, in low-light settings, plants turn green to absorb as much sunshine as possible.

Even if you managed to get raw seeds, you need to know how to grow pothos from seed.

Let’s go through the process one by one.

Growing Pothos Plant From Seeds

As I mentioned, the toughest part is getting pothos seeds. But, if you have them, the rest of the process is straightforward. Like every other plant seed, pothos seeds germinate similarly.

The only difference is time, and comparatively, pothos seeds might take a little longer to germinate.

Pre-Germination Process

It may take anywhere in between one to two weeks for your pothos to germinate. 

This might be the most tiresome phase as it is difficult to tell if your pothos seeds will grow or not.

If you do not see a baby plant by the second week, be a little patient and wait for one more week. The speed of

germination depends upon numerous factors such as maturity of seed, temperature, season, water, etc.

And, if in case your pothos seeds do not germinate by the third week, it would be best to start the germination process all over again.

Remember never to use the same growing medium(soil); this will cause the new seeds to decay.

Step 1: Preparing Your Seeds

Take a tablespoon of pothos seeds in a bowl and fill it with tap water. Stir the seeds and wait for a few seconds for them to settle at the bottom. You will see two different kinds of seeds:

• You can discard the seeds floating on top of the water as they are bad seeds that will not germinate.
• The seeds at the bottom of the bowl are healthy seeds that will most likely give you a good pothos plant.

I generally prefer to soak the seeds overnight before I plant them in a soil medium.

I usually soak it for a good 12 hours. However, if you keep it in water for more than 14 hours, the seeds will start to rot.

Step 2: Selecting a Starter Pot

It is best to use starter pots when germinating seeds. You can easily find them in various plant shops. Or, you can even use tiny containers or large ice cube trays as your starter container.

Like every other plant pot, your seed starter pots should have a drainage hole. If not, make sure you create some holes manually to avoid the rotting of seeds.

If you directly plant the seeds in big pots, the seeds might germinate; however, the baby pothos will die due to excessive water. Larger pots retain more water.

Step 3: Preparing the Soil

It is best to use ready-made potting soil as it contains the perfect mix of sand, cocopeat, garden soil, and perlite. Ideal for germinating seeds!

Or, you can even germinate the seeds in plain cocopeat.

I always have success with this technique.

Step 4: Planting the Seeds

Now, finally, to the fun part!

Once your starter trays are filled with a growing medium, you can go ahead and plant the seeds. Make tiny depressions on the soil and place one to two seeds. Cover them with soil very lightly.

Remember not to insert the seeds too deep in the soil.

Add some water to the arrangement. The tray should be slightly wet but not dripping.

Step 5: Placement of the Seeds

You can place the tray anywhere without direct heat and light. However, to speed up the germination process, here are few tips:

• Cover the tray with a single layer of plastic wrap.
• Please place it in a dark corner with good airflow.

Step 6: Water the Seeds

It is necessary to keep the soil moist at all times when germinating the seeds. Use a spray bottle to water them as necessary. Also, make sure the topsoil in the starter tray is never dry.

It is best to use filtered water when germinating pothos seeds. It reduces the chances of bacterial and fungal infections.

Post-Germination Process

By the second or third week, you will see tiny pothos saplings sprouting in the starter tray. Some will make it, and some simply won’t.

Now, you should remove the plastic wrap or poke some holes into it for proper airflow.

Do not place the tray beside a bright warm window, or you will end up drying the baby plant. Instead, place them in a shady area with moderate temperature and humidity.

Also, increase the watering frequency.

When do I Plant my Saplings into a Pot?

Normally, pothos plants are fast growers when it comes to stem propagation. Unfortunately, as for seed propagation, I cannot say the same. It will take a lot of time for a tiny seed to develop into two to three-leafed plants!

How to find out if you can re-pot your pothos sapling from the starter tray to a bigger pot? Check the roots!

If a pothos is moderately root bound, it is a good sign. However, if you see that the roots are excessively bound together, it might be the perfect time to re-pot your sapling into a slightly bigger pot.

You can easily tell that your pothos is excessively root-bound if you see that a significant number of roots are coming out through the drainage holes.

Depending upon the size of your starter tray, you should be doing your re-potting anywhere in between four to six months. 

Whenever you re-pot, select a pot that is slightly larger than the previous one. If you go for a big one, chances are your pothos will not survive. Why so?

Larger pots have more soil. More soil means more water retention and fewer air sacs. Henceforth, the roots remain wet for a longer period in larger pots. This eventually leads to root rot and loss of the plant.

Are you worried why your pothos are not growing?

Read more: Why are my Pothos not Growing?

Growing Conditions for a Newly Re-potted Sapling

Let’s move on to the growing condition for newly repotted saplings.

Light Requirement

Pothos babies from seeds are grown in a shady or low-light area. Thus, they are not used to bright and direct light.

Once the pothos is six months old, they need indirect light to grow into a healthy plant.

Placing them directly on a window for long hours will kill them immediately as they cannot adapt.

• For the first two weeks, place them in a window receiving minimal light for about an hour. Ensure you do this when the sun is not at its peak, preferably early morning or late evening.
• For the third and fourth months, give them two to three hours of indirect light during the same time of the day.
• From the fifth month, you can leave them by the window for a good five hours straight.
• And, finally, from the sixth month, you do not have to move your pothos away from the window. They will have adapted to the indirect light.

Water Requirement

Pothos prefers its soil to dry out between waterings. Thus it can tolerate irregular watering. However, soggy pots are a no-no for it. In general, you should water pothos once a week during the summer and twice a week during the winter.

Keep the soil moist but not soggy – pothos thrive when the soil can dry out between waterings.

Soil Requirement

Newly sprouted pothos loves moist but well-drained soil. They grow faster in a well-drained potting mix. Pothos loves  Neutral to Acidic soil that means soil pH should be maintained between 6.1 to 6.5.

Fertilizer Requirement

Feed your new plant baby with a high-quality liquid fertilizer. Then, as the existing water evaporates, you can use a water-fertilizer combination – water with a few drops of liquid fertilizer – to replace the containers.

Note

If your seeds are from variegated pothos, it is best not to keep them right beside the window as they will gradually lose their variations. Keep them slightly away.

Also, it is not necessary for the seeds of variegated pothos to produce a variegated plant. There is no such guarantee that you will get the exact variety of pothos that you wanted!

They could turn out neon, marbled, solid-green, or variegated; the probabilities are endless. You could even produce an albino pothos that looks mesmerizing initially but will die as it cannot go through photosynthesis. What a tragedy!

Why are Pothos Seeds Rare?

Generally, pothos plants are non-flowering plants. They are even popularly known as “shy-flowering” species. Due to a genetic deficiency, they are unable to produce any flowers.

Pothos flowers are sporadic and only found in the wild. And, no flowers mean no seeds!

Isn’t that very disheartening?

Researches suggest that you can give your pothos a hormone treatment if you desperately want it to produce flowers.

And, even in this case, the seeds may or may not possess the ability to germinate new plants. Thus, the results are mostly controversial and inconclusive.

No wonder it is almost impossible to get them. However, there are a few sellers on online platforms that advertise pothos seeds for an unthinkable price!

The Truth About Pothos Seeds: Can you Get Them?

Well, as for me, it was a no. However, it might be a yes for you if you have access to online platforms……and honest sellers!

But, one thing is for sure, you will not find them in a casual plant store.

Numerous sellers online promise to provide you pothos seeds for a high price. But are they reliable? Several people reported they were scammed when buying rare pothos seeds!

Did you hear about the “blue strawberry” seeds scam that was all over the internet in early 2020?

I am sure you know that the bizarre fake seeds trade of exotic plants has swamped the internet and popular e-commerce sites like Amazon, eBay, Etsy, etc.

“So far been scammed with dwarf banana seeds and hybrid exotic pothos seeds.” – eBay.

“It infuriates me when I see so many listings for seeds I know are absolutely 100% fake. For instance, there is no such thing as a blue watermelon or strawberry or a carnivorous plant that looks like something from a Mario Bros. game.” – eBay.

To Conclude, if Something Looks too Good to be True, It Probably isn’t.

Despite going through all the steps perfectly, if your pothos seeds are still not sprouting, you know there is something wrong with the seeds. I hope you did not purchase the pothos seeds from a shady online seller.

And on the other hand, if your “so-called” pothos seeds grow up as a lemon tree. Well, at least you won’t have to buy any lemons from the grocery store from now on.

The online sellers were selling seeds (let’s hope), but the question is, what seed? On the brighter side, consider yourself lucky if you get some useful plant, if not a pothos!

Therefore, growing a whole new pothos from seeds definitely sounds amazing. There is immense pleasure in watching the plants grow day by day. However, is it worth the risk, money, and time?

I would not recommend getting any seeds from online sellers. However, if your all-time favorite plant shop is selling pothos seeds, you should definitely go ahead and try it. Chances are they will grow into exactly what you wanted.

And, if they do, do not forget to leave down the location of the plant store in the comments below.

Good luck with your pothos seeds!